Meet Rachel Burt Garcia of As You Wish Events in Addison

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachel Burt Garcia.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Rachel. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
When I was in college, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted my career path to be, I just knew that I loved design and organization and was having a hard time finding something that joined my two passions. I majored in Fashion Design, switched to Dance, switched to Public Relations and then finally, found my home and my passion in Hospitality studying hotel, restaurant and event management. I graduated Cum Laude from the Dedman School of Hospitality at Florida State University, one of the top 10 Hospitality schools in the nation. During my time in the Hospitality program, I attended a wedding of a friend that was incredibly stressful and I knew I could have helped had I been involved on the front end. That is when I began to research wedding planning as a possible career. I knew it was right for me when my love of helping people and being of service to others melded with design and organization. I immediately dove in head first, got an internship at As You Wish Events in 2009, got a ton of experience under my belt, became business partners with the original owner and then, finally, became the sole owner in 2013, Nine years in the industry has taught me a lot and I have been blessed to have planned hundreds of luxury weddings and events nationally and internationally, including many high profile events such as the Margot Perot Center for Woman and Infants’ anniversary celebration for the Perot family, on-air parties for Stephanie Hollman of “Real Housewives of Dallas”, the wedding of Mark Phariss and Vic Holmes – the couple that challenged the state of Texas for the right to legalize gay marriage – and the KISS FM wedding with rapper, Coolio. In addition to “Real Housewives of Dallas”, I can also be seen on TLC’s “Say Yes to the Dress”. I have been honored to win awards and accolades such as the NACE “Color Me a Cure” tabletop design competition and several magazine and blog features in publications like D Weddings, Modern Luxury Weddings, Inside Weddings, Brides of North Texas, Style Me Pretty, Partyslate and many more. I currently hold the title of Certified Wedding Planner through the American Association of Certified Wedding Planners (AACWP) where I have sat on the board of directors and have my ear to the ground on everything going on in the industry! Wedding planning is my passion and my love. I work incredibly hard for my clients and my team and feel incredibly blessed to be doing what I love!

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Like in any business, there have definitely been struggles along the way. Growing up, I never in my wildest dreams ever imagined I would own a business. I had a lot of pressure on me from people that were close to me to go a safe route- get a job with a large company and have security and benefits and all of those warm and fuzzy things. I completely understand that sentiment, as you always want the people you love to be safe and secure, but we only get one shot at life, and if you don’t go after your dreams, then what kind of life is it? I even had a high school boyfriend laugh in my face when I told him my dreams and tell me “You’d better marry rich” and that I would never be successful. That was the end of that relationship. Sadly, these are not the only two experiences I have had where people have shot down my dreams. I could go on for pages. Luckily, in my case, these experiences drove me to push harder, to not give up and to take on even more. As a female entrepreneur with her own business at the age of 24, it was not easy. I could plan a badass wedding, but had no idea what it meant to run a company. At the time, I was kicking myself for not studying business and finance in college (I still regret that to this day), but, thankfully, I had amazing mentors, an incredibly supportive husband (well, he was just my boyfriend way back then) and spent my downtime researching and surrounding myself with people who had figured it out so that I could learn from them. I think it is so important that I encourage young entrepreneurs and share my story with them so that they know, it is a process and we are all continuing to learn every day.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
We are full service wedding planners and designers. We are with our clients every step of the way, helping them to budget, recommending vendors, going to meetings with them, helping with invitations and paper products, designing their wedding and managing the logistics including the timeline, floor plan, vendor schedules, and much more. We are there on the wedding day to ensure it is as stress-free as possible and to execute the plan and the design that we have put in place. We are known for creative design that is personal to the couple- meaningful details that make it more than just a pretty party. We are also known for our level of service and I truly think that is what sets us apart. My clients know that I will go above and beyond anytime, anywhere to get something accomplished for them. My goal is for my clients to not only be able to look back fondly on the wedding itself, but to also be able to look back at the planning process as a whole and think about what fun memories they made along the way.

What were you like growing up?
I truly credit my parents with instilling several qualities in me that I feel are so important to who I am as a person. They valued kindness and love above all else and that is something that I have kept true to as I’ve grown. I think kindness is one of the most underrated qualities and I remind myself daily to practice it. I was voted Most Unique person in my Junior High School and was nominated for Friendliest. I think I was voted Most Unique because I have never been afraid to try new things, push the social boundaries and not be confined to “the norm”. I think my friends growing up would probably describe me as bubbly, fun and studious. I was pretty terrified to break the rules and was definitely your classic goody two shoes. I have always been artistic and loved to travel. I studied art history at an early age and danced in the Dallas Repertoire Ballet from 15-18. I lived in Costa Rica at the age of 14 and Spain at the age of 18. I think that love of travel and cultural curiosity has led me to really appreciate other cultures and translate that in to being able to plan and design all sorts of different cultural celebrations like Indian Weddings, Eritrean Weddings, Persian Weddings and many more.

Contact Info:

• Address: 14675 Midway Road
  Suite 207
  Addison, TX 75001
• Website: www.asyouwishevents.com
• Phone: 972-385-1706
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @asyouwish_dfw and @rachelburtgarcia
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/asyouwishdfw/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/asyouwish_dfw
• Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtskEv1FH5y2akvESL663jg

Image Credit:
Jennifer Yarbro Photography, Jenny and Eddie Photography, John Cain Photography, Perez Photography, The Tarnos Photography, Edmonson Photography, Allen Tsai Photography

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